EA Responds To Criticism Over Titanfall 2 Launch Timing

Titanfall 2 launched last week for PC and consoles, and got acclaim from both critics and gamers. However, the game fell short in the sales department, even though it launched for PS4, and many are blaming it on EA’s decision to release the game a week later after the launch of Battlefield 1 and a week before Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

EA has finally responded to to the criticism over Titanfall 2’s launch. In a recent earnings call for EA, CEO Andrew Wilson was asked if we would want to release two FPS together, which prompted Wilson to defend the decision.

We think there’s really three types of players. People that really love Battlefield and that kind of big strategic gameplay that will orient in that direction; the player that loves the fast, fluid, kinetic gameplay of Titanfall 2 that really orient in that direction; and the player that just has to play the two greatest shooters this year and will buy both.

EA CFO Blake Jorgensen added that to build a franchise you must have long view for it. Also the decision regarding already existing franchises will be different for the new ones.

Part of the strategy of building a franchise is you have a long view. You think about the business differently than you might an existing franchise like a FIFA or a Madden. What that means is we’re looking for ways to not fragment the player base early, but to include [as many players] as we can to continue to build that franchise. We think that’s the right strategy for a product like Titanfall.

Do you think it was a bad decision on part of EA to release two shooter so close? Let us know in the comments.